1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an input/output device that improves the operability of a device by adapting the device to user operations as a user operates a device such as an information device or an audio/visual device.
2. Description of Related Art
The number of features and functions provided by information devices to users has increased as the performance of the information devices has improved. In addition to the primary function of providing wireless mobile telephone service, modern cell phones, for example, offer digital camera functions for taking pictures, text messaging and e-mail functions, so-called “wallet phone” functions for paying fees and fares, and even Internet browser capabilities. When so many functions are provided in cell phones and other devices of such a small, limited size, the user must typically perform a confusingly complicated series of steps in order to access the desired function. As software features and functions continue to increase, even personal computer users find it increasingly difficult to access the desired function in a full-featured word processing program, for example.
Devices that adjust the operations executed by the device according to the requests and actions performed by the user are one possible solution for this problem. Generally referred to as adaptive input/output devices, these devices gather information about how the user has operated the device and adjust the operating method and operating menu content to the way the user operates the device. An adaptive I/O device as known from the literature is described below.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-H05-113863, for example, teaches a preferred menu display method that preferentially displays the menu items most frequently accessed by the user based on the operator's usage history when there are too many menu items to display at once. This reduces the number of available menu selections at any one time and thus makes it easier for the user to find and select the menu items most commonly invoked by the user.
Different kinds of information can be used to modify the order of the preferred display items. The adaptive operation support device taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2003-70075, for example, refers to as much user information as possible in order to simplify menu selection when finding the desired menu item is particularly difficult for the user. For example, in order to select a function for one of multiple devices in the home that can be controlled with a universal control device, the menus and items are adaptively displayed based on how the user has operated the devices in the past, the time of day, the ambient temperature and other environmental information used to control the air conditioner, for example, and whether high priority events, such as the phone ringing, have occurred.
Determining the order of precedence is also not always based on user convenience alone. Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2003-233731, for example, teaches giving greater precedence to search results related to a paid advertiser when ranking the order in which Internet search results are presented. This method enables linking the user to a particular advertiser when an information search gets multiple results and the results cannot be reduced to a single selection.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-T-2004-505369 teaches a method of displaying selected items after calculating the order of precedence using various methods. The menu improvement method taught in JP-T-2004-505369 displays the highest priority items in the center of the menu list to minimize the cursor movement required to select a desired item and thereby make menu selection easier for the user. This is particularly useful on cell phones and similar devices with a small screen where function selection requires moving a cursor and pressing a button to enter the selection.
When numerous functions can be offered to the user, such adaptive I/O devices can thus enable the user to select a required function without viewing all available menu items by reducing the functions presented to the user based on user information.
One of the problems with the adaptive I/O devices of the related art is due to the user remembering and becoming accustomed to device operations. When a user uses a device for the first time, the adaptive I/O device of the related art cannot adapt operation to the user because it does not know how frequently the user accesses any functions. As a result, the default standard function selection method and menu display sequence of the device must be used while gradually learning what functions the user selects in what conditions. However, during the initial learning stages in which the device is learning what functions the user accesses, the user is also learning and remembering what functions the device provides and how to operate the device. The user is thus both using and learning how to operate the device at the same time.
As a user operates the device without the displays being adjusted, the user gradually remembers the device operations and how to operate the device and within a certain period of time learns to operate the device according to the default operating system of the device. Note that this operating system as used herein refers to the display content of the menus that are a listing of the executable functions, the number of items displayed, and the order in which the menus and items are displayed. Once the user has memorized the operating sequence, the user can operate the device without looking at and reading the menus because device operation has become rote. The user can thus operate the device without paying particular attention to the displayed menus and available selections.
When the user operates a device with the ability to adjust where menu items are displayed, however, and the device begins to respond adaptively to the user once the user has become accustomed to device operation, the user is forced to relearn where the menu items are displayed. This forces the user to relearn operations that had become rote, and the burden of this need to recognize changing menus and relearn operations increases with the user's degree of familiarity with the device. Some advanced users of word processors and other personal computer programs even turn the adaptive menu display function off so that menu items are not removed or moved by the device. This method depends on the user to learn the device or program instead of expecting the system or program to adapt to the user. If an adaptive I/O device that is intended to assist the user functions at the wrong time and forces the user to relearn operations, the adaptive I/O device can actually impede rather than help learning. At the same time, however, functions that are seldom used and not memorized can be made easier to use by moving the corresponding menu items to a more efficient location.
The problem with the related art is therefore that uniformly implementing an adaptive display function does not uniformly improve the ease of use.